Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has fired Moscow's powerful mayor, Yuri Luzhkov. Mr Luzhkov, 74, was being removed because he had lost "the trust of the president of the Russian Federation", a presidential decree said. [...]
On Monday, after returning from a week's holiday in Austria, Mr Luzhkov said he would not stand down voluntarily.

His decades in the office were marked by blatant homophobia. He infamously referred to gays as “satanists” and "faggots". He constantly denied Moscow gay activists the right to peaceful actions, including crackdown on Gay Pride events.

Of course, the real reasons behind the sacking of Luzhkov are outside the human rights context, and rather an outcome of internal battles on the highest levels of power in Russia. Still, feels good for now. And I can only commend Russia president for such decision.

Prominent Russian gay activist Nikolai Alexeyev expressed hope that next mayor will be a person with “European mentality”.